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| The Delaware Regiment of the Continental Army at the Battle of Long Island during the American Revolutionary War. Domenick D'Andrea Commissioned by the US National Guard Bureau, c. 2004 Source |
Most of you, no doubt, learned various things about the American Revolution growing up. I'm not sure if that subject is still taught in schools, which, if not, is a crying shame. However, much of what we learned is often based on myth and legends. I seem to relearn this every time I do some research. (And it's not revisionist history if new sources are brought to light. Only if the facts are "re-interpreted" to push an agenda.)
The night of "Paul Revere's Ride" (which he wasn't alone in doing) - he didn't ride through the night shouting "The British are coming." Which would have made no sense at all to the colonists. In their minds, they were all British, they themselves and the troops occupying Boston. One of their main complaints is that they weren't being treated by the Crown as Englishmen.
No, Mr. Revere's ride was to raise the countryside, because for one thing shouting would have awakened loyalists and patriots alike, his was a stealth mission. Also, he would have been notifying the patriot leaders that "the Regulars are coming out," meaning that the Army was coming to seize their arms, powder, and shot.
It rather stunned me to learn in recent days that we didn't call the British troops "lobsterbacks." I grew up with that, I even called them "lobsterbacks" in my rerun the other day. That epithet was coined well after the Revolution. Rather rattled me, now I wonder what else I learned in school that was, well, let's just say, not that accurate.
At any rate, there seems to be some confusion among the readership as to where we are in the story,The Revolution. The story begins in Boston, in October of 1768. Before the Boston Massacre (or as the British call it, "the incident on King Street"), and before the Boston Tea Party.
The Massachusetts Bay colonists, some of them anyway, are rather upset about the new taxes which Parliament has levied on the colonies to pay for the French And Indian War (know in Europe as the Seven Years War) which ended in 1763, a scant five years before the beginning of this tale. So the military commander in North America, Sir Thomas Gage, has ordered more troops to Boston.
In our story, two British Army regiments have just landed in Boston to reinforce those already there. This would be the 14th Foot and the 29th Foot (some of whose members we have already met). And yes, the 29th had black drummers. (In later years many European armies, including Napoléon's, sought out black men as musicians. Why, I'm not sure, maybe I'll find out in my research.)
As for the troops marching out to the countryside and back, it was a way to keep the men fit. It also gave them something to do besides drill. A certain amount of drill is necessary for discipline and so that the troops could maneuver crisply in battle. But doing nothing but that everyday makes for restless and bored troops. Bad for morale that is.
As we draw closer to April of 1775, the British made an effort to have a large number of troops out in the countryside to get the colonists used to seeing them out and about. I'm guessing that plan didn't work all that well as the events along the Battle Road to Concord and back will attest. (When we get there.)
So, early days yet folks, I'm introducing characters and their points of view, setting the stage, as it were, for what's to come. We'll get to the action, eventually.
After all, "if you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding ."¹
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The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781 John Singleton Copley, 1783 Source |
Enjoy your Sunday, juvat will, no doubt, entertain you with something on Monday, and I'll be back on Tuesday, hopefully with another installment of The Revolution.
'Ware the politicians, keep your powder dry.
¹ Apparently that saying has been around for a while, but I like the way Pink Floyd presented it.
Thanks for the background information Sarge, IIRC there were three men who rode that night. We all can use a refresher on the events of the last half of the eighteenth century. Those are some very good paintings, explanations make for good reading........ :)
ReplyDeleteAnd a teenage girl, as well, I believe.
DeleteNylon12 - My sources tell me (mind you, this was a very cursory search) that there were four riders: Paul Revere, William Dawes, Samuel Prescott, and Israel Bissell (he joined the first three later in the night).
DeleteStB - I can find no reference which includes a teenage girl. That would have been rather unusual for the time.
DeleteAnd Dr Prescott was the first one to Concord. His ride is re-enacted each year the night of the 18th for Patriot's Day. Or, it was when we lived in Concord in the 70s.
DeleteI'm pretty sure it still is.
DeleteI believe Mr. Badger is referring to Sybil Ludington, who is alleged to have made a similar ride that often gets conflated with The Midnight Ride. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sybil-Ludington "on April 26, 1777, a messenger reached the Ludington house with news of Gov. William Tryon’s attack on Danbury, Connecticut, some 15 miles (25 km) to the southeast, where the munitions and stores for the militia of the entire region were stored. Colonel Ludington began immediately to organize the local militia. Whether Sybil volunteered (as is often recounted) or was directed by her father to bear the order for muster and to rouse the countryside is a matter of uncertainty. (The classic account of the event, an article written in 1907 by Ludington’s great-nephew Connecticut historian Louis S. Patrick, says her father “bade her to take a horse, ride for the men, and tell them to be at his house by daybreak.”) In either case, through the night the 16-year-old girl rode her horse nearly 40 miles (65 km) on unfamiliar roads around Putnam county, spreading the alarm. She ranged south to Mahopac and north to Stormville before returning home. "
Deletehttps://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/sybil-ludington
On the banks of Lake Glenida in Carmel, New York, stands a dramatic and animated equestrian statue of the female Paul Revere of the American Revolution. 16-year-old Sybil Ludington sits astride her steed, Star. Ludington made her ride on April 26, 1777, during a driving rainstorm, traveling forty miles, and unlike Revere, avoiding capture. She learned that the British were planning to attack nearby Danbury, Connecticut the location of a stockpile of provisions for Continental Army. Her father, Henry, was a Colonel in the militia in command of 400 men. Not unlike Revere who two years earlier roused the communities outside of Boston to British troops being on the march to seize arms, Ludington spurred her horse, prodding him with a stick to raise the alarm in Putnam County, New York. The British however were successful in their raid on Danbury, but roused by Ludington’s alarm, the Patriots encountered the British at nearby Ridgefield, Connecticut and were successful in driving them back to Long Island Sound. Unlike Revere who had a patriotic poem written about him by a famous poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ludington remained obscured in history until in 1961 the Daughters of the American Revolution commissioned noted sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington to replicate Ludington in bronze.
Yup, different ride.
DeleteGREAT book by David Hackett Fischer; "Paul Revere's Ride", A must-read/must have book. Even if this stuff is no longer " taught" in the taxpayer-funded Guv Indoctrination Centers having such books available for grandchildren and others can be remedial.
DeleteBoat Guy
Ordered it today.
DeleteMyths vs history the eternal battle.
ReplyDeleteSo few who keep referring to the American Revolution and all that forget how much time, quiet discussion and planning happens before it got serious.
Many even after gunpowder got burned wanted negotiations to resolve the issues.
And so few current hot-headed realize how much the French supported our revolution to weaken England.
A proxy war. Much like current Ukraine.
Michael
"Many even after gunpowder got burned wanted negotiations to resolve the issues."
DeleteA rather prominent name among them, John Dickenson, aka "The Penman of the Revolution" and member of the rabel meeting in Philadelphia that sweltering July in 1776. Only member who did not sign the Declaration because he felt that not all avenues of negotiation had been examined and that separation from England would be a political and economic disaster.
Michael - Without the French we would probably have been British for quite a while longer.
DeleteJoe - Even the Declaration of War against Japan had its one dissenter. There's always one who wants to keep talking long after any reasonable hope for peace exists.
DeleteAF Sarg French support included much-needed gold. Gunpowder, lead, arms, training AKA Lafayette, technical support to create our own Gunpowder AKA Mr Dupont as in current Dupont powders so beloved by reloaded.
DeleteOh, and French navy support to Blockade a rather important battle from supplies and reinforcements..
I'm on my phone or there would be links.
Your a good historian please tell me what revolution ever succeeded without outside assistance
No, from my understanding without the French support the "Whiff of Grapeshot would have ended the rebellion.
Franklin's work in the French court was critical.
Michael
The French and Russian revolutions immediately spring to mind. In fact, they succeeded in the face of very active outside resistance.
DeleteThe Spanish also supported the Colonists against the English. Not as openly or as widely as France, but material support coming up from Florida and from Mexico, including whole herds of cows to feed the army and militias.
DeleteWell, that makes sense. Anything to aggravate the British Crown.
DeleteGreat abstract to rough frame the stage for the Revolution.
ReplyDeleteRe your "above the fold" picture. I've always thought that the Dansey Flag to be one of the stranger of the rebel flags of that era, but it did serve the purpose of being easily identifiable. Although that motie of "canton (Field) barry of six (Color)" is seen on several rebel flags.
Re musicians. Just spitballing here, based on vaguely remember things I read half a lifetime or more ago, but my gut says that among the reasons are:
The political and military leaders of the time liked the way Blacks looked in the bandsman's uniform. I've seen Black drum majors in pipe bands and DANG! they look impressive in that kit.
It was one more way for the colonels and other commanders to easily pick out the bandsmen, as if the swallow tail shoulders, the coats with the base and facings colors reversed,. and other insignia weren't enough.
This one is a real stretch, but I have dinging in the back of my head Ottoman influence. Or western perception of what the Ottoman army looked like.
As I said, spitballing.
That particular flag has an interesting history, it is still in existence and though faded is still in excellent shape. It probably wasn't in the field for long (flags get tattered through hard usage). Most likely not a regimental flag.
DeleteNapoléon had been impressed by the Ottomans' Mameluke cavalry and incorporated a squadron of them into the Imperial Guard. Though in later years they were mostly French, originally they were Muslim.
It could just be something as simple as one very influential commander/lord had one and others copied in order to look 'cool' like the aforementioned commander/lord. Like art patrons, gotta keep up with the snooty trendy people.
DeleteOr they were some commanders' personal slaves and it was a way of justifying their existence in the unit.
Or maybe not a lot of children were 'voluntolding' into the position of drummer, considering the mauling they took in the French and Indian 7 Years War.
Mayhaps a combo of all of the above.
Though I put more weight on the 'keeping up with Commander/Lord Jones..'
African culture is big into drumming and other forms of rhythmic music. Perhaps they were simply very good at it.
DeleteI'm often amazed at what I don't know (or what I thought was, wasn't).
ReplyDeleteSame here!
DeleteHaving to unlearn what we've learned is a very interesting thing. What we consider sacrosanct and whether we keep it or not. Very weird.
DeleteOne of the history professors I had in college, Early American History, spent a bit of time on the evil "Boston Massacre" and how it was pretty much all propaganda and not a lot of truth other than Mob vs Enlisted. Very informative teacher. First time I ever encountered a 'blue book' exam wherein he wrote the question to be answered and we had to write an essay, pretty much filling said blue book. Good class.
I truly enjoy professors like that.
DeleteJohn Adams defended the British soldiers in court, and for the most part he won. Two of the troops were found guilty of manslaughter and were branded on the thumb. Yup, that was it.
Well, when you're trapped and people are throwing 1-5lb paver stones at you, which if it hits the head will kill you, firing your weapon is a reasonable defense.
DeleteI wonder who was really behind the mob that gathered there? Was it some agent provocateur from France? Or some Colonial? Or even someone from England working for or against the Crown's interests? We may never know.
What matters is a stirred-up mob is only as smart as its dumbest and calm as its angriest component. A 'thing' that we've witnessed over and over in American History.
It's almost as if you can control the mob, you can control the narrative ...
DeleteOh, wait.
I guess Emanuel Leutze painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware was later. We would hike up to the park when I was young to look at the reproduction . It's a quite large piece of art.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see that myself.
DeleteRe: Revere's 'solo' ride. I am assuming (ahem!) y'all are familiar with "Paul Revere's Ride" by David Hackett Fischer? If not, seems to be v. well researched with much detail on the riders, events leading up to and afterward, "the shot heard around the world." It's also source material for the Appleseed Training Event. If not familiar, look them up. (I've shot one, didn't make rifleman) Hackett has another, "Washington's Crossing" which I haven't read, shame on me.
ReplyDeleteAdding to that, Fischer's "Washington's Crossing" won a Pulitzer Prize in history, which I didn't know. Now on order.
DeleteAlan #1 - I just ordered it, I love Fischer's work. I highly recommend "Washington's Crossing!"
DeleteAlan #2 - You won't regret reading that book!
DeleteGuess I coulda read all the way down and saved my comments about Fischer's books.
DeleteSarge, if you're gonna write on the militia I've a strong recommendation for you;
"The Minute Men" by Major John R. Galvin USA; an Infantry officer. My copy is a first edition by Hawthorne books copyright 1967
Must have/must read.
Boat Guy
I bought that on your recommendation some time ago, read it, loved it. I will be rereading it soon! Outstanding book.
DeleteMegadittos on Galvin's "The Minute Men." I think it was mentioned in an earlier post here (or maybe over at the Lexicans). I was somewhat skeptical, but mostly ignorant on the origins of the Minute Men and their place in New England Military history prior to the Revolution. His book is solidly researched, comprehensive, and very readable. Fixed a bit of my ignorance, it did. Lots of copies on ABEbooks for under $10 including shipping, so just do it.
DeleteJB
I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a solid understanding of the New England military establishment in the 18th Century.
DeleteTensions had been ratcheting up since way before the French and Indian War. Not a lot of people understand that. England's wish to keep the Colonies as a source of raw materials and a buyer of finished goods and keeping manufacturing away from said Colonies was one of the many reasons for the increased tensions. It made sense when the Colonies were still young, but by the early 1700s there was enough population and desire for home-grown products to support manufacturing in said colonies. Very weird how much tension could be generated by such a simple idea of making stuff here rather than buying from there.
ReplyDeleteThen again, that was one of the root causes of the American Unpleasantness of 1861-1865.
It's all business. Follow the money.
DeleteIt very much is all business. Keeping the money flowing back to the home country was a major issue. Having those pesky colonists make fine goods by themselves and sell internally, rather than going through England's docks and taxmasters, was a real peeve.
DeleteNot very sporting of them, was it?
DeleteProbably of every permutation of the cause of 'rising tensions', at the root is bridling to being told what, how, when by others. That is, the thirst for individual liberty soon becomes so acute that no authoritarian ideal can control it.
DeleteThe irony is if others would just lay off, the heat would not rise. But they can't because their pathos demands it.
Bingo!
DeleteSarge, growing up on Not The East Coast, the American Revolution was something that happened and was historical, but not really all that real. Having actually been back to that part of the world in 2022 made the whole thing a lot more real and more interesting.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up here, it was like the Revolution happened a couple of years ago.
DeleteWhat do you mean our history isn't actually our history? Our govt, society, tradition, and teachers have been lying to us? Say it isn't so! Here's one guy discussing the true issues surrounding one of our greats. His style leaves something to be desired, but the fact spewing is pretty eye opening. As for the troops being given something to do to keep them busy, my Army brother says there was a ton of that, much of it red-ass stuff. It reminds me of a hilarious Soldier on Instagram- Mandatoryfunday. Check him out- very funny.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pZG7snE7tU
DeleteTuna #1 - A lie is a deliberate act to deceive, growing up we didn't have a lot of really good historians. People relied on myths and legends to tell the stories. That's not lying, that's simply being misinformed, not doing the research. The government didn't start lying to us on an industrial scale until Vietnam. For those who want to argue that it occurred earlier, best have your sources available.
DeleteTuna #2 - That guy sucks.
DeleteYeah, I get it, I'm a little pissed off at the govt (current lying admin) right now and rolled them up with good teachers who did the best they could.
DeleteI get that. Bunch of incompetents.
Delete